2014 November
Animal Communication
A talk at North Hill Village Hall by
There can be few more practical and rewarding uses of the dowser’s craft than the skill of communicating with animals – or rather that of enabling them to communicate with us.
We can debate until the cows come home about whether animals have the same outlook as ourselves, whether they have ‘souls’, and whether some of them are more instinctively intelligent than us. What we do know is that if our pet cat, dog, horse or bear has pulled a muscle or has a dodgy tummy, it will let you know by any means available to it – and what is better than to use the psychic channels that are open to all those with a degree of sensitivity (and a dowsers checklist).
Ann has a vast portfolio of stories and case studies of the animals she has worked with – and she could clearly have kept us enrapt with these alone until owls were flying past the windows. Her main claim to fame in dowsing circles is her long-standing reputation for helping the equine – and their custodians. ‘Horse whispering’ has moved out from the field of the quietly eccentric, and into the alternative mainstream, due largely to the widely viewed film of the same name. It is a worldwide phenomenon, which is particularly big in the US, and Ann’s work has also taken her (intuitively) to work in Spain and the Anglo-Spanish speaking islands. It is a niche area of the dowser’s profession that has really taken root in the horse owning community, essentially because so many of them have found that it has worked for their much loved and very expensive animals. Ann noted that one of her colleagues had a practice sited close to the Hickstead ultra-professional horse show arena – not typically favoured by people who would like to be seen hiring tree-hugging ley-hunters.
Ann’s style is disarmingly simple. Having determined the response to the usual Can I? May I? Should I? permissions, she moves on to enquire if the problem with the animal is skeletal or muscular – or, where necessary, with the internal organs of the patient in question. Watching her work with a rod in one hand and her finger on a diagram of a horse’s skeleton (tucked under her chin for the audience to see!) was very reminiscent of the water diviner moving their hand across a sketch of a field, with the rod flicking acknowledgment as their rod touches the image of the relevant location.
She uses her vast knowledge and experience of animal biology and physiology to determine which part of the creature in question is in need of healing. Ann had brought along some of the textbooks and anatomical charts that she uses for us to have a look at. She also generously distributed photocopies of many of the reference sheets that help her to devise healing remedies – mainly those of herbal origin or derived from indigenous vegetation. A referral to more conventional interventions or to mainstream treatment are not completely off the agenda, but they are seen as last resorts in particular cases, rather than the default response.
Understanding that each of the vertebrae of the spine has an influence not only on different aspects of both an animal’s physical condition, but also on their mental and psychological state, gives her a head start in knowing how to treat them.
Some people had brought along witnesses (pieces of fur or tail) of their pets for non-physical analysis. Ann was able to determine the likely cause of the animal’s malaise – and the various owners seemed both impressed and grateful for her conclusions. Even those animals, for which there was no witness, and not even a photo, were given an intuitive once-over – based purely on a name and a place. By this method, it was felt that Monty the cat had a dislocated patella, for which the most appropriate available remedy was massage. (To the non-pet-owner, quite how one could keep a cat still, whilst gently rubbing its tiny but tender knee-cap is rather less clear!) From the number of people who carried on talking to Ann afterwards, and from those who took away her calling-card, it was apparent that she had made a lot of new friends and contacts.
Although this was an introductory session for those with an interest in animal welfare, Ann extended her remit to include those animals with the slightly larger cranial cavities – humans. Just as she could work down the spine of a horse, either ‘in person’ or remotely at home, so we could all do the same with any handy specimen of homo sapiens. Even those non-dowsers who had come along just to see a horse-whisperer in action were given a demonstration of using arm-stress-testing kinesiology to provide information on a colleague’s wellbeing.
Ann is very aware that not all the issues with pets, livestock and even animals in the wild are physiological. She often has to go beyond pure animal treatment to include the impact of detrimental earth energies, ‘ley lines’ and underground water on her clients and their charges. It’s not much use using her extensive expertise to diagnose a problem with a pony, if the stable is situated above a ‘black steam’. We have become so used to the single silver bullet approach to health and healing that it is refreshing to find someone like Ann, who has a truly holistic view of the world in which she works.
Despite her storehouse of experience, and her ability to articulate it, she has yet to describe her activities in writing. Consequently, she brought no related books to sell – just a card with a telephone number and a desire to share her understanding of the animal kingdom with whoever was willing and able to listen to her. As Ann would clearly have liked to have covered a lot more of the subject, we will hope to be able to invite her back on another occasion.
Many thanks to Ann for taking the time and effort to travel over to us from her home near Dartmouth – and, as ever, to all those who helped to put the event on, serve the refreshments and to clear up afterwards.
I have a feeling that a fair few Felixes, Fidos and Flames will also be benefitting from the waves of intuitive interest rippling out from this talk.
Nigel Twinn, Tamar Dowsers, November 2014